Bowling Tips Hook

Bowling tips hook #1 - The short hook.

When the ball either fails to hook enough or has been thrown out too far, the bowler gets a 1-2-4-7-9 leave.

This spare can be missed very easily, as a glance at the pin setup will show. The safest way to play this leave is to shoot from the right-hand side for the 1-3 pocket, making the ball carry the 9-pin.

If the ballis working properly, it will strike the 1-pin on the right-hand side, and the 1-2-4-7 will fall like a picket fence, the ball continuing on through to carry off the 9-pin.

It is best to gamble on making it in this fashion rather than to attempt to drive the 1-pin into the 9-pin, because the ball is larger than the pin and therefore offers a better chance of carrying the 9-pin. The 1-2-4-7-9 conversion is open to argument, but most experts play it in the fashion I describe.

Bowling tips hook #2 - The sharp hook.

A ball breaking in very sharply to the headpin and carrying away the 5-pin causes such leaves as the 4-7-9, 4-9, and 4-7-9-10.

Play from the right side of the approach, and angle the ball across the lane to clip the 4-pin thinly on the left side. The ball will take out the 7-pin, and the 4-pin will slide to the right and carry away the 9-pin or 10-pin or both.

This is easier said than done, but practice on this shot brings steadily increasing success. Take plenty of time and care in placing the ball on the lane.

A bowler may be lucky on this shot by striking the 4-pin on the right side in such a manner that it rebounds from the kickback to carry off both the 7-pin and the 9-pin. It goes without saying that this shot should never intentionally be played that way.

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